Yukichi Watabe: A Criminal Investigation (First Edition)

WATABE, Yukichi

ISBN 10: 2915173826 / ISBN 13: 9782915173826

Published by Xavier Barral / LE BAL, Paris, 2011

About this Item

First edition, first printing. Hardcover (Japanese binding). Canvas cloth-covered boards with tipped-in title and black-and-white plate on cover and title stamped in black on spine; with black elastic band; no dust jacket as issued. Photographs by Yukichi Watabe. Text in French and English. 100 pp., with black-and-white plates throughout. 11-3/4 x 8-1/2 inches. [Cited in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History, Volume III. (London and New York: Phaidon, 2014)]. New in publisher's shrink wrap. From the publisher: "On 14 January 1958, the disfigured and amputated body of a man was discovered near Lake Sembako in Japan. Two investigators from Tokyo came to help out the local police in order to resolve what at first appeared to be a banal case, but which proved to be more complex. For the first time, a photographer was authorised to accompany the police to document the investigation. Watabe followed the inspector as he questioned witnesses (workers in a tannery factory, local police officers etc.) and pounded the streets of the most insalubrious neighbourhoods in Tokyo--its bars, bridges, alleyways and hospitals--in search of the killer. Watabe's images record much more than simply a police investigation, they reveal Tokyo in the 1950s in a way that has rarely been shown.".

Seller Inventory # 112010

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Yukichi Watabe: A Criminal Investigation (First Edition)
• Publisher: Xavier Barral / LE BAL, Paris
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 2915173826
• ISBN 13: 9782915173826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: No dust jacket as issued
• Seller catalogs:
  • Documentary
  • Obsession
  • Narrative
  • Tokyo/Japan
  • Evidence/The Document

About this title

Synopsis

On 13 January 1958, the grotesquely disfigured body of a man was discovered near Lake Sembako in Japan. Two investigators from Tokyo came to help the local police in resolving what at first appeared to be a banal case, but which soon proved to be something more complicated. For the first time, a photographer was authorized to accompany the police to document the investigation. Press photographer Watabe Yukichi (1924–1993) followed the inspectors as they questioned witnesses (workers in a tannery factory, local police officers) and pounded the streets of the most insalubrious neighborhoods in Tokyo--its bars, bridges, alleyways and hospitals--in search of the killer. Like the haunted film stills of a newly discovered noir classic, Watabe’s images record much more than simply a police investigation, and reveal a Tokyo of the 1950s in a way that has rarely been depicted.